Three-Year Reincarceration Outcomes for Amity In-Prison Therapeutic Community and Aftercare in California

Abstract

The study assessed 36-month recidivism outcomes for a prison therapeutic community (TC) program with aftercare using an intent-to-treat design with random assignment. Outcomes for 478 felons at 36 months replicated findings of an earlier report on 12- and 24-month outcomes, showing the best outcomes for those who completed both in-prison and aftercare TC programs. At 36 months, 27% of the prison TC plus aftercare completers recidivated, versus 75% for other groups. In addition, a significant positive relationship was found between the amount of time spent in treatment and the time until return for the parolees who recidivated. However, the reduced recidivism rates for in-prison treatment found only at 12 and 24 months was not maintained at 36 months.